APBA Basic Baseball – Steals

I know there are as many APBA homebrewed modifications and systems out there as there are Derek Jeter’s ex-girlfriends, but, like Derek Jeter’s ex-girlfriends, I’m too inexperienced to know much about them.

I’ve been interested for some time in getting APBA, particularly the BAT2 set. But I’ve been gun shy since I learned about the no-control-of-steals situation. Is there no way around that?

The one big thing I liked about Strat, as well as Sports Illustrated’s All Time All Star Baseball, was the ability to decide when to send the runner on certain basehits, when to sacrifice, when to pull the infield in, and when to try for a steal. I hate seeing that control taken away. Is APBA truly like that? No modifications ever conceived?

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First a caveat: My copies of the Basic Game and Master Gamer were purchased in the 1980s, so I don’t know what’s been changed since then.

While you can’t control steals in the Basic Game, you can call for a hit-and-run play, which quite often then becomes a stolen-base attempt. A Strat-O-Matic style “calculate the odds and decide whether to send him” requires the Master Game.

Regarding sending the runner on a hit, you can announce (before the play) that you are “playing it safe” which limits the runner to one base on a single and two on a double (and eliminates the chance of being thrown out trying to take the extra base). Again, a Strat-O-Matic style “calculate the odds and decide whether to send him” requires the Master Game.

The Basic Game does allow the offense to call a sacrifice at any time (when a runner is on base). It also allows the defense to play “deep” or “in” when a runner is on third base.

Hope this helps. Based upon my own experience, if you want the APBA version of those other games, you’ll be far happier with the Master Game than the Basic Game. It also is required for lefty-righty effects and it far better and handling defensive plays. (I don’t know if the BATS 2 Master Symbols are available, though.)

Well, you can take full control with the Master game. And you can choose when to sacrifice or pull in or out the infield in the Basic game. You can also choose when to Hit and Run. Stealing is about the only thing not in your control in the Basic game.

I’m sure someone has some house rules for stealing in the basic game, though.